Korean Pancake (Pajeon)
In the latest Vegan Chef Training we adapted a recipe by Hetty Mckinnon and used the organic vegetables that we had on hand which were in season. This is a delicious savoury pancake which can include both sweet and white potato. The white potato in the past has been given a bad rap but actually packs a punch in the nutrition department and is fantastic for the nervous system. Don’t be afraid to add it into your diet. For more information on the mighty potato I am glad people are starting to put white potato back on their plates.
Vegetable Bake with Cauliflower Cheese Sauce
Hope everyone is very well. I am buzzing with happiness after this last month of facilitating modules 2 to 5 of the Vegan Chef Training, as well as a few private days of teaching cooking and nutrition and now this last weekend the June 3 Day Foundation Cooking Course. This was a wonderful three days with five fabulous participants. We had a full house (5 is my maximum) and a lot of incredible food was made.
Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls
What’s your relationship with cabbage? Do you love it or loathe it? I love it, I love a great coleslaw and I eat cabbage in the form of home made sauerkraut twice a day. When it comes to cooking it though I shy away from it a little bit but due to its immense health benefits I have been adding it a lot more into my diet. I have noticed that if I eat raw red cabbage I digest it really well but if I cook it I get digestive issues. If I cook white cabbage all is well. This will not be the case for everyone, it is a personal thing.
Lenticchia
I hope all is well in your world. What a tough time it is worldwide. Thanks to those people who wrote to me last week to let me know how you are. It was lovely to read how people are nourishing themselves during this time and for me to make recipe suggestions to those who are struggling. Feel free to write anytime.
Pea and Zucchini Soup
It’s a very breezy cool day where I live today so this week’s recipe is very fitting. I also think this soup would go well as a spring or early autumn soup. It’s book review week this week. I have this lovely book at home, once again not vegan but definitely vegetarian and the recipes are so easily adaptable when you know how (that’s one of the many things I teach in the 3 day course - how to adapt regular recipes and make them vegan). The book on review this month is At Home in the Wholefood Kitchen by Amy Chaplin. It has lots of lovely tips and some great information. Well worth borrowing it from your local library.
Not Salmon Cakes and Jam Drops
This week’s blog comes with quite a story. I hope you love stories. I love stories, my grandmother always told us stories and I would relish in every word. Its book review week and I am reviewing a very special book this week that unfortunately isn’t for sale. It’s a family cookbook of my best friend from school’s grandmother. Penny Curtis and I have been friends since we were eleven. We both grew up in the Northern Territory. We loved our grandmothers and talked of them fondly. They both lived elsewhere mine in New York state and Penny’s in Herberton, Queensland.
Winter Salad with a Home Made Balsamic Glaze
Last Thursday to Saturday I facilitated the 29th Vegan Foundation Cooking Course where four wonderful people attended. It was a treat for all of us to have such a small group and some very creative food was made.
Potato and Spinach Bake
Its been my experience that if I put a bowl of nut cheese out in front of friends who aren’t vegan and don’t tell them what it is they will ask what type of cheese it is. However if I place a bowl of vegan cheese on the table with some crackers and tell my friends what it is they will say, “it’s nice but it doesn’t really taste like cheese”. It fascinates me as when the mind isn’t comparing vegan cheese to non-vegan cheese it actually tastes like cheese. Does what I am trying to convey make sense? I’m struggling to put my thoughts into words.
A milestone and a creamy vegan chowder recipe
On the 19th of May this year my catering arm of the business I run turned ten and the Vegan Cooking School turned three. What a massive milestone this is for me. I chose not to celebrate and was going to write a blog then I wasn’t going to write a blog and now I just realised I really can’t let that pass. It is a big deal to me so here I am writing about the journey I have travelled in this business. I wish to share my story as I feel it may help others stay on track with their young business.
What Oil Do You Cook With? Here’s My Take on Oils
What is the low down on oils. This is a hard one. I personally don’t fry much with oil. My preferred choice of using oil is splashing organic olive oil into a pasta sauce or running it through my lunch time salad. As a caterer though I am asked to shallow fry corn fritters and burgers for lunch and I looked at the high heat point of oils and thought that rice bran was the best to use however I struggled to find organic rice bran oil and then found out how destructive that crop is to the environment. Nut oils like Macadamia and almond were the next best but many people suffer from nut allergies so not an option for me. Avocado oil also has a high smoke point but so far the budget for retreats doesn’t quite stretch to frying with avocado oil.
